by Legendary Lew
Yesterday, The Underground Multiplex reported on a damning post left on Facebook by film director Felix Piñeiro accusing an important person connected with a Chicago film festival of sexual harassment. The violations could have happened to as many as 20 different women.
Based on the detailed information given by Piñeiro about the festival, it was easy to determine that the fest in question is The Midwest Independent Film Festival.
After the post was published yesterday, our stats of viewership here boosted over tenfold, which tells me that many people out there are interested.
A few people had wondered about the veracity of my post. That’s a fair question. It’s why I followed up with a screenshot of the original post (Piñeiro’s original post was not set to “public” on FB, only to friends). You can find that pasted screenshot here.
I also want to let you know that I do have media contact and there’s at least one person very interested in doing a follow-up. This could happened if anyone directly involved in the sexual harassment allegations cares to step forward regarding the information brought forward in the post.
I’m also hearing that wheels are turning in regard to this explosive report. People in the local Chicago film industry are paying attention to this and I’m hopeful that progress will be made.
As a peripheral part of the entertainment community, I know that these sort of reports spread like wildfire and that many here in Chicago do try to look out for each other. I imagine that if I were deeply involved in the community as an actor, performer or crew, the intensity of the discussion would deepen many times over.
Keep in mind that this update has to remain relatively vague, due to legal issues. I will continue to keep you updated as much as I can with information that can be shared.
In the meantime, if you want to help. SHARE the original post. If the allegations brought up are true, it’s up to us to help the victims feel safe enough to come forward and tell their stories.
My contact is: lewojeda@gmail.com
The Underground Multiplex 